Grambling State University faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students participated in the 79th annual Association of Social and Behavioral Scientist Inc. (ASBS), recently in Atlanta. The conference was centered on “Transforming the Social and Behavioral Sciences: Impacting Human Rights.”
Dr. Frances Staten, graduate students Darrell and Jarrell Specks, and Dr. Laivain Coleman of GSU Alumni Social Research Club revisited a senior participant of Grambling’s Longevity Project: Mr. Lugene Davis Jr. (1993-2004). Mr. Davis was a key informant for the longevity project during numerous interview sessions with pre-centenarians, centenarians, and served as a speaker on paper/panel sessions of ASBS and other sociological and gerontological conferences.
Staten presented a PowerPoint on “Exploring Longevity in Rural Black Cemeteries: An Ethnographic Study” which yielded knowledge about how data of vital substance can be extracted from tombstones.
Several Pi Gamma Mu members and students from Southern University (Baton Rouge Campus) participated in a panel discussion on “Globalization” as it relates to human rights, student activism and environment.
College Beapers, De’Harrious Caesar (Grambling) and Xavion Rayford (Olympia College- Washington State) shared their involvement with the Black Empowerment Apprenticeship Program (BEAP) from early childhood to college, and the role played by BEAP’s 500 club, mentors, trainers, and supporters in their educational development- a basic human rights.
The panel was supported by the Lucy McIntosh College BEAP Fund, and Pi Gamma Mu Family Empowerment Fund (Dr. Thomas Durant, Dr. Frances Staten and Dr. Alma Thornton). Students were accompanied by academic and faith mentors and advisors: Lakeisha Jenkins, Frances Staten, Lottie Staten, Clarence Williams, and Inetha Wimberly.
RaNeshia Wimberly presented in the potpourri session, a paper titled “Is Online Dating Good for Finding a Mate,” which stimulated intense discussion and recommendations for further research. Brooke Batiste presented a paper titled “Global Education” in which she highlighted the contributions of the late Dr. William McIntosh, past president/pioneer of ASBS and former dean of the College of Liberal Arts at GSU.
Students networked with participants from other universities.